A lot has changed within the twelve months and it’s seen many businesses making the move over to the online world due to the effects of the pandemic. With many people working from home remotely, businesses have had to adapt where they can or risk going under.
For online businesses though, this year is an opportunity to expand your business even further. With many organizations and businesses still working from home, there’s still a lot that you can do to help manage and expand your online business in 2021.
Tip #1. Elevate your content creation
A big advantage that’s come from businesses moving their staff to remote work is that more people are now engaging in content whether it’s watching videos, reading blog posts or scrolling through the feeds of Twitter and Instagram.
You’ve also got a lot of people who have sadly been let go from their jobs or on furlough, so this all contributes to more people online throughout the day. For your brand, it’s important to use this time as an opportunity to build a connection with more readers and build up a following.
The best way to attract your target audience is not just focusing on your products or services but providing the bigger picture. You want to show your audience the benefits of using your products or services. Showing them in action through visual content is going to be more engaging and as a result, you’re likely to push more sales through that sales funnel of yours.
So how can you elevate your content creation? Well there are a few basics to help improve your content and these are:
- Be consistent with scheduling your content and posting at the right time.
- Provide more quality content than quantity.
- Think about offering multilingual content by using transcription services online by Happyscribe.
- Take inspiration from other brands and give it your own unique twist.
You always want to be able to meet your audience’s needs when it comes to content because after all, they are the ones you want to engage with the most.
Tip #2. Use your data to learn more about your customers
Data provides knowledge that can help enhance your efforts in various parts of the business but significantly when it comes to your customers. The more you can do to improve your customer relationships, the better. But in order to strengthen any relationship, you need to be open in learning more about them.
Although your customers are likely to be similar in demographics, each one is unique and slightly different to the next. So even though you have a target audience, you may have pockets of customers who are quite different to another cluster of customers.
However, for some online businesses, there may be so much data, that it’s hard to collate it all properly. That’s where software and tools come in to help manage the data you have available and to utilize it effectively. Knowledge base software has become popular to use both internally and externally.
Remember though to use and store your data in accordance with any consumer privacy laws that are in place, such as the california consumer privacy act guide.
Tip #3. Use software and tools to improve team collaboration
Collaboration within your business is important, even if you’re a company that operates 100% remotely. You want to be able to collaborate and communicate effectively with all your team wherever and whenever you are able to.
With that said, you want task management software and communications in place so that you reduce the amount of mistakes that get made generally in business. In order to manage your online business efficiently, find a software that’s going to be affordable but still does everything you need it to do.
icon-angle-right ProofHub
With more than 85,000 organizations using this platform, it’s a popular one and can cater to any sized business, any industry or departments that need it. Some features include creating tasks, a built-in calendar and the ability to create discussion topics.
icon-angle-right Teamwork
Task management platforms often have a wide range of features and Teamwork is no different. It has all the relevant features needed to communicate with your team internally, whilst being able to monitor and review employee’s work capacity as a whole.
icon-angle-right Asana
From prioritizing tasks and setting deadlines, Asana is a great tool for busy organizations who need a bit more structure. You’ve got the ability to assign tasks and have real-time project status’ to keep up with what’s heading for completion on time and what might be delayed.
Do your research look into the platforms above. It’s good to weigh up the pros and cons so you find something that’s right for your business. Fortunately, a lot of these platforms are free to use and have a pay per user service that can help you pay simply for who needs to use it, rather than it being this expensive package that not everyone needs.
Tip #4. Partner with other businesses
Collaboration outside of the business can prove quite successful if you pick the right businesses to work with. Internal team collaborations can be beneficial because more brains are better than just the one. Doing the same externally and working with another company can really help to expand whatever project you end up doing together.
You also have the added benefit of splitting costs and also promoting your online business with their audience and vice versa. Find a mutual interest in companies that you’re looking to work with and understand how this collaboration can be a positive partnership for all parties involved.
Start the conversation yourself by assessing the businesses you want to work with and then reaching out. Set up a meeting and test the waters before fully committing to any sort of partnership. Some collaborations might seem good on paper but they might not be as effective in reality.
Tip #5. Invest in advertising
As a business, there’s a lot of hard work, time and money that goes into it on a daily basis. However, with no investment on your advertising, none of this hard work will get seen. Even for big businesses who’ve established themselves on the market, they still need to invest a budget into advertising and marketing.
With that being said, consider what budget you can assign to advertising and look at what paid advertising might be useful for your online business. By using the data you’ve collected on your customers, you can tailor the paid ad campaigns to target your audience directly.
With paid advertising, it can often be a case of trial and error. Some campaigns will be successful whereas others might go wrong or not perform as well as you’d hoped. As a business, there’s lessons to be learnt every day and so take those failed campaigns as an opportunity to assess where you went wrong.
Organic growth is just as important as paid advertising though and they go hand-in-hand when expanding your online business. So make sure you’re active on social media, commenting where you can, liking other people’s content and creating as much organic content as possible.
Social media is a great place for advertising your brand but it’s also important to know which platforms do better for your business than others.
Tip #6. Network online
For any business, networking is an essential part of business growth because you never know what certain individuals or organizations may be able to do for your company. There’s always something to learn too when it comes to running a business and it might be that you learn from others who are higher up in the ranks of business ownership.
According to Review42, they found that 95% of professionals would consider face-to-face communication as something that is vital for any form of long-term business. It might be that as an online business, you don’t get regular opportunities to meet people in real life. However, platforms like LinkedIn are available to use for networking.
When expanding your online business, you need to be willing to put in that extra time to make the connections. If you get the opportunity to see people in-person, then take advantage of networking events through conferences, etc.
Tip #7. Diversify your income streams
As a business, it might be that you make sales through whatever products or services you sell. However, in order to make your business work harder and ultimately make you more money, it’s good to try and diversify your income streams where you can.
This might be through public speaking opportunities for any of your employees within the business, who can give talks on behalf of the company. You may find that investing in other companies might be helpful in providing you with another income stream.
By having multiple avenues of income, it provides you with the profits needed to continue developing areas of your business where it needs it.
Final Words
In order to manage and expand your business in 2021, you want to be thinking outside of the box and being active in getting the company out there. Take these suggestions and see how influential they can be for your company this year.
About the Author!
Natalie Redman. Freelance writer for many clients including Skale, Natalie has two years of copywriting experience. Natalie has a wide range of experience copywriting for web pages for businesses across many industries.